to catch a butterfly
by volian
Summary: Cube ties herself down to no one, and skates through life looking for a challenge none but a certain whitehaired GG can give. Multichaptered, JazzCube. [1 of 4]


TO CATCH A BUTTERFLY  
_fanfic by volly  
jet set radio future (c) sega/smilebit_

...

It was on days like these that she almost wished the police would come back.

It was an amazingly beautiful day, and the summer sun hung at its zenith in a flawless, cloudless blue sky. It was a perfectly beautiful summer afternoon, and every GG member had found their own way of enjoying it to the fullest. Slate had challenged Beat and Corn to a race at Dogenzaka Hill, while Piranha and Mew were swooning over the chick flicks at the new theatre in Chuo Street. Garam and Combo were--literally--out painting the town red, and Gum was stuck with the chore of walking Potts, who was probably more concerned with getting to know the local fire hydrants than with actually getting any exercise. Clutch was probably off doing who-knows-what at who-knows-where.

Which left her utterly alone in the Garage, bored out of her mind.

Cube sighed and stretched her long body out on the sofa, closing her eyes, letting herself relax in the shade. Yes, it was on days like these that she practically wished the police would return. The good old days, she reflected wryly. It was blasphemous, everybody knew, but sometimes having the law against her made it so much more fun when she was out skating. Having the cops at her back had given her such an amazing adrenaline rush she felt like she could've gotten addicted to it...maybe she did.

She'd always been a daredevil. She loved facing life-and-death situations and laughing at the face of danger. She'd liked having the Golden Rhinos around, and fondly remembered skating circles around the fools, dodging their pathetic bullets with ease. She'd actually missed Hayashi--he was a maniac, but he was just so much fun to tag. And his ridiculous threats and weapons never ceased to amuse her.

Everybody agreed that life was better off since the fall of Rokkaku, but it had definitely gotten more boring...

"Yes!" A black-gloved fist punched the air. Cube irritably cracked open one eye to regard the owner of said fist as he gave a whoop and jumped up and down in victory, skates clacking loudly against the tiles with each leap. "I did it! And Slate said I'd never beat his score! Ha! Beat that, Slate! Who's the ma--"

The boy's celebration was cut short sharply when a ball slammed into the back of his head, knocking him to the floor and sending his red sunglasses flying. A white-haired girl skated up from behind him, her indigo lips stretched in a grin the Cheshire cat would envy. "My bad."

Cube couldn't help but smile. Alright, so perhaps she wasn't alone in the Garage. Yoyo had been busy grappling with the Pinball machine ever since Slate had beaten his old hi-score. And Jazz? She'd been invited to watch Baton Rouge with Mew and Piranha, but had decided instead to pass her time kicking an old ball around the Garage and tricking in the half pipe. The dark-haired girl pulled herself up on the arm of the couch and watched lazily as the drama unfolded before her.

"Ow, Jazz, what the hell?" Yoyo whined, his voice reaching new feminine heights by the second. He pushed himself off the ground to a sitting position, sulking and trying to pat down his mussed hair back to its customary smoothness. "I know you're madly in love with me and all, but can't you crush on me in a less painful way? Yo?" he added absently, as an afterthought.

"Heh. You wish, Yoyo." Jazz smirked, reaching down to delicately pick up Yoyo's fallen glasses. The green-haired teen snatched them swiftly out of her hands and slid them back atop his nose, scowling at his friend. She just laughed at the pitiful sight and began dancing a bit as "Fly Like a Butterfly", one of her personal favorites, started to pound through the Garage's gigantic speakers. "Sorry about that, man. No, not really. I just had to shut you up before my eardrums started bleeding. When's your voice gonna learn to be sexy, Peter Puberty?"

"Whaddaya mean, learn? My voice's sexy enough already, yo! Yo! Lookit me when I'm yelling at you, Jazz!"

Jazz caught Cube's amused glance and her grin widened. She skated over to the lounging girl and leant over, arms crossed. "Ya look bored."

"I never would've guessed," Cube deadpanned, staring idly at Jazz's elbow. The other girl was so close she thought she could catch a whiff of the light, vanilla-scented shampoo that was Jazz's trademark brand. It was quite a nice aroma--not as spicy and exotic as Piranha's, nor as outrageously pungent as Mew's. Her eyes fell shut, and she found herself smiling for some reason, breathing deeply, a gesture that was not lost on Jazz.

"So, would you like me to remedy that?" Jazz offered, reaching down to toy a bit with Cube's stray locks. Cube twitched--she hated being touched, even by friends--and gently pulled away. She liked Jazz, she really did. The girl had spunk, made lovely tags, and was a mean racer. However, she tended to be a bit affectionate in regards to her friends, and all of the GG's fell victim to her frequent hugs and friendly kisses. It was a habit Cube disliked, but one Jazz couldn't seem to kick.

She could _feel_ Jazz's pout and sighed. "Alright, so how d'you plan to do that?"

"Death ball. You ever played?" At Cube's affirming nod, Jazz continued. "We could go down to the Tokyo Underground if you'd like. Might be cooler down there--we'd melt out here in the sun anyways. So how about it, girl?"

Cube couldn't help but smirk. "D'you even know who you're challenging here? I used to be leader of the Poison Jam, _girl_. I know the sewers like the wheels on my skates. Hate to say this, Jazz, but you wouldn't stand a chance against me."

The other girl chuckled and simply adjusted her checkered scarf, a crooked grin on her lips. "Try me."

There was a dare glinting in those jade-green eyes, one that Cube knew she couldn't resist. She knew of Jazz's skill and mastery of the Death ball game, and she knew that Jazz would definitely not go down without a fight. Death ball...it was the kind of competition that consumed the lives of countless rudies, but Cube had never really seen the appeal of it. Oh, she'd played a few times in the past, but her opponents had never presented much of a chellenge, and her allies had never once caught up with her nimble skates. So she quickly grew bored of the game--there was just no one in Rapid 99 or Poison Jam good enough to face her.

Jazz, however...she'd heard good things about Jazz. Perhaps she would finally meet her match?

"Yo!" Yoyo slid onto what spare space there was left on the couch, shoving aside Cube's long legs to make room. "Can I come too?"

"You, squirt?" Cube shot the boy a steely glare, but he shrugged it off effortlessly. "You honestly think you can keep up with us?"

"Don't call me squirt, yo. And don't underestimate me," Yoyo sneered, pushing his glasses up, though they simply slid down again, revealing his narrowed green eyes. "Beat did that once, yo. He never did it again."

"Oh, really?" Jazz arched an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. Yoyo wasn't a particularly fast racer, as far as she knew. Most of his talent lay in his quick and clever tags. "Well, I dunno..."

"Aw, c'mon. It's scorching out here. And I'm bored, yo." Yoyo complained, leaning back on the cushions and kicking his yellow skates noisily against the floor. "Man, sometimes I wish Rokkaku'd come back. Things've gotten so boring sometimes I want to puke, yo."

Cube blinked at Yoyo's confession, so startlingly similar to her own. The green-haired rudie caught her questioning look and his expression turned shifty as he grinned shamelessly back at her. "Besides, who'm I to skip an afternoon hanging out with two pretty girls, yo?" he finished, leering and wagging his eyebrows suggestively at the two. Jazz just rolled her eyes and ruffled his lime-green hair affectionately.

"You'll never change, will you?"

"Don't touch the hair, yo! So it's decided?"

Cube hefted herself off the furniture, stretching out a bit, like an awakening cat would. The old ball lay at the foot of the stairs, and she skated leisurely over to scoop it up, absently bouncing it in a palm.

"Sure, why not? It's not as if I have anything better to do."

...

_author's notes_ - y halo thar, jsrf fandom. :D i do hope you're not dead, 'cos there doesn't seem to be much activity around here, and this is an awesome game that deserves more love.

'nyways, this was gonna be a oneshot but i thought i could lengthen it to a multi-chaptered fic. won't be too long--about four chapters or so, i think. and it's gonna have shoujo-ai--so if femmeslash isn't your cup of tea, i advise you not to keep reading. :D

i'd love a review. :O flames will be used to heat my tea. 


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